Microscope (Pt. 1)
Episode Description Finally, The Road to PARTIZAN enters its final lap. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be zooming the camera out to look at the 5,000+ years that have taken us from the end of the Twilight Mirage to the very moment Partizan begins, and to do that we’ll turn to Ben Robbins’ excellent Microscope, a game which we used in part during COUNTER/Weight’s “faction turns.” In this first part, we’ll look directly at the moon world of Partizan, where a religious prophet makes a dramatic claim, performs apparent miracles, and winds up caught in the machinations of an empire. Will this shake the religious foundations of the Principality? Or will this prophet be stomped out like so many other challenges to Divinity’s rule… This week on the Road to PARTIZAN: Microscope Pt. 1 ///YEAR:1418 PERFECT MILLENNIUM ////LOCATION: PARTIZAN | ASHEN STRAND 001.01 | ISLES OF LOGOS ///RECORD TYPE: AUDIOVISUAL This is a low-quality recording of a “Rededication Ceremony” at a temple or church. Across two dozens sequences, the footage follows members of this community as they prepare for, attend, and mingle after a religious ceremony. The footage leaps from scene to scene artlessly, offering only brief snatches of time as the camera operator inconsistently holds down the “record” button. Banners are hung. Seating is assigned. An orator speaks at a podium in front of a large, dark shape. They are in the middle of speaking, and the camera picks up the words “their war is our opportunity,” before being cut off. Afterwards, food and drink is provided. Over the sound of background chatter, an attendee offers the camera a friendly hand sign and a smile. Plot Opening A message to Cymbidium from Gur Sevraq, liberator of the Divine Future, Disciple of Logos, rector of the Church of the Resin Heart, and Agitant of all Divinity, in this, the nine hundred and ninety ninth year since Logos Kantel first walked the path. My friend… Does my voice finally reach you? Or did you hear me then, and dismiss me, call me a zealot or a hypocrite or a dream? Do you listen only now because it is the appointed time for me to speak? Oh Cymbidium, I fear now is too late. I had hoped to spur you on, to bring you towards action, immediate. I fear you only lean towards what is necessary instead of running towards it. But in times like these, what is necessary demands swiftness. The Future has shown me what is coming: Yes, more violence. Yes, more war. Yes, further oppression. But also: Opportunity. The greatest weapon a tyrant has is their ability to wall in the imagination, to shackle the very idea of what it is possible. Well. A siege has a way of breaking walls, of loosing shackles. God has shown me the truth: There was a time once when the galaxy was joined, not in pure unity as the Philosopher claims, but in raucous conversation. A time before each world sat in silence, separated by Principality or Perennial it matters not. A discursive galaxy, where words and ideas and feelings crashed into one another, and gave in return to us visions of futures worth dying for. Please, Cymbidium. Find me on the Isles. Be wary of deceivers. Trust only the novel. For the familiar is tainted with blood. Cast * Austin Walker * Keith J Carberry * Andi Clare * Andrew Lee Swan Other Character * Gur Sevraq (opening) * Cymbidium (opening) * Apokine (For the Queen) * Logos Kantel Category:Road to PARTIZAN Episodes Category:Microscope Episodes